Henri Verneuil and his trusted star team (Gabin, Delon, Ventura) at their best. It's a big caper story where the Sicilian family located in Paris plans an ingenious heist of the top secure jewelry collection at Rome's Villa Borghese to be transported to New York. They hijack the plane to a highway construction site as all NYPD are waiting for them at La Guardia. The weakness of Delon for women in general and the voluptuous charms of Irina Demick in particular does for them what the united police forces of France, Italy and the USA cannot. Designer Saulnier and cinematographer Decaë are at the top of their game. There's an elegant confidence and a sure sense of timing in Verneuil's touch right from the beginning as Delon's flight from the police prison car is detailed. There is a master of mise-en-scène to be discovered in Verneuil's best films. Yes, the crooks are impossibly glorified. Gabin to Ventura: "On y va". To his grandson: "Pas ce soir".

I intended to check the start only, but the film is so gripping, I stayed till the end. It still is an excellent jungle fantasy. Everything borders on the caricature, but it works, as there is a sense of wonder all through the picture. For the child, it's an exciting adventure (it's not for the very youngest, as the climax in the giant gorilla pit is quite grim); for the grown-up it's a vision of the Garden of Eden where Tarzan and Jane rediscover what Adam and Eve did. Yes, the blacks are depicted with racism, but also the whites are caricatured as greedy, whip-wielding, insensitive "civilized savages" who do not understand the jungle. They find the elephants' burial ground in the end, and there Jane's father finds his final place to rest. There is a sense of nobility in Tarzan's mutual help network of the jungle, and there is grandeur in the final view as Jane decides to stay with Tarzan, and the sole surviving white ivory-hunter is seen leaving empty-handed.

Still an exceptional Holocaust movie focusing on one Nazi criminal. It starts in a Jewish cemetery to the sound of a Kaddish. We hear Hitler shouting that the day will come when the ten commandments, the curse of Sinai, will be replaced by the law of nature. The curse of so-called morality will perish in the immortal battle of the survival of the fittest.

Cut to Jerusalem in 1961: video images of Adolf Eichmann's trial. His career is tracked down from 1933 to the present. The anti-semitic propaganda of the Third Reich is documented in great detail. The Nazi euthanasia programme is documented. Eichmann's role in Austria after the Anschluss, in Czechoslovakia, and in occupied Poland is examined. He was the "Referent der Judenfrage", the expert of the Jewish question in the Gestapo.

Leiser handles with care the antisemitic Nazi propaganda imagery, the real story in the looks of the victims forced to pose for their tormentors. A great deal of the footage is little known even now; the images are both shocking and surprising. New footage includes bland video images from the Eichmann trial and good interviews with three survivors, from the Warsaw Ghetto Yitzhak Zuckermann and Zibia Lubetki, and from Treblinka, Jakov Wiernik.

To the end, Eichmann denies having been more than a little civil servant following the Führerbefehl. He could not even bear the sight of blood, he "had not the makings of a doctor". He was a new kind of murderer, one that kills by signature, an instance of transference of guilt on a world-historical scale. The film would deserve to be better known. Essential in the debate on Holocaust deniers, Holocaust evidence and Hitler's orders. He shouts his aim here loud and clear.

During the retreat of the Germans in WWII the inhabitants of the Italian town San Martino flee during the night fearing a retribution which does indeed occur, during a service in the church, of all places. This is the story of the flight of a group of people of all ages. On a field they meet the partisans and join them, having to change names in the process. The story culminates in the final battle with the Fascists, where former friends slay each other. The news of liberation are received in pouring rain. There are several dimensions in this historical epic: it is a study of society in extreme transformation; strangers become bedfellows, friends become mortal enemies. History blends with legends from the Classical Age as all is seen through the memory of a six year old girl who now tells a bedtime story to her own little daughter. The famous image of the Fascist impaled by a dozen spears is a fantasy of the little girl.

Wednesday, May 25, 2005

One Man's War trailer. FI 1973. PC: Filminor. D: Risto Jarva. 3'. A brilliant 35mm print. Viewed at Orion, Helsinki, 25 May 2005. Trailer to the film of the quixotic enterprise of Erik Suomies and his earth mover on the construction sites of Finland.

The Tragedy of Tulilahti. FI 1959. PC: Suomen Filmiteollisuus. SC: Arno Carlstedt, Niilo Ihamäki. DP: Olavi Tuomi, Veikko Mård. Narrator: Ihamäki. 11'. A fine 35mm print. Viewed at Orion,Helsinki, 25 May 2005. The gruesome double murder of two girls from Jyväskylä in Tulilahti in August 1959 was never solved. The meticulous investigation processes are documented here as is the funeral which was an event for national mourning.

The Kuurila Train Disaster. FI 1957. PC: Suomi-Filmi. 2'. A beautiful 35mm print. Viewed at Orion, Helsinki, 25 May 2005. The worst after-war train disaster in Finland on 15 March 1957 with 26 left dead and 48 injured. The newsreel was ready for screening the next day.

You Are the Red Cross. FI 1957. PC: Suomi-Filmi. D: Harry Lewing. SC: Gunnar Rosén. 11'. A good 35mm print. Viewed at Orion, Helsinki, 25 May 2005. The 80th anniversary of the Finnish Red Cross is an ambitious and fascinating chronicle covering all aspects of the organization's activity, currently also helping Hungarian refugees in Austria.

The Last Journey of Risto Ryti. FI 1956. P: Olle Åkerblom. DP: Åkerblom, Antero Rautio. Narrator: Martti Silvennoinen. A 35mm print with good definition. Viewed at Orion, Helsinki, 25 May 2005. The burial of the wartime President of Finland (1940-1944) was a major national event.

Finlandia Katsaus 290. FI 1956. PC: Suomi-Filmi. DP: Niilo Heino. Narrator: Hugo Ahlberg. 8'. A 35mm print with good definition. Viewed at Orion, Helsinki, 25 May 2005. The 1956 general strike in Finland: many exciting views and situations, including violent long shots of the "gasoline war" where the mounted police rides into a crowd of people.

Finlandia Journal 57. FI 1944. PC: Finlandia-Kuva. 1'. Betacam, alas. Viewed at Orion, Helsinki, 25 May 2005. The aftermath of the war is always a violent time in terms of post-war crime. The policeman Riistama has been murdered.

The Evacuation of Porkkala. FI 1955 (1944). PC: Oy Filmiseppo. DP: Reino Tenkanen. Narrator: Paavo Nurmi. 8'. A beautiful vintage 35mm print. Viewed at Orion, Helsinki, 25 May 2005. Finland was never occupied during or after WWII, but the USSR rented a small piece of land, the Porkkala Peninsula near Helsinki, for a naval base for 11 years. A powerful and fascinating film.

Finnish Children to Sweden. FI 1944. PC: Finlandia-Kuva. D: Holger Harrivirta. DP: Björn Soldan. Narrator: Veikko Itkonen. 9'. A vintage 35mm nitrate print with generally good definition. Viewed at Orion, Helsinki, 25 May 2005. An eloquent documentary on the great Swedish action to take care of Finnish children (70.000 altogether) during WWII. We follow a train journey of Karelian children via Haparanda to Stockholm, and a ship journey on the Ariadne from Vasa to Umeå. Moving images. Touching for me personally, as my mother was one of "war children" for whom the experience was a happy one.

FI 1943. PC: The Finnish Army. DP: Vilho Uomala. 3'. Betacam, alas. Viewed at Orion, Helsinki, 25 May 2005. Brutalities of Soviet partisans photographed in the Viianki village in Suomussalmi 7 July 1943 were never shown to the public at the time.

Suomi-Filmi Journal 7/1939. 1'. Betacam, alas. Viewed at Orion, Helsinki, 25 May 2005. Visiting the studio of the sculptor Yrjö Liipola at work on the memorial of the shipwreck of the Kuru, which sank in Näsijärvi in Tampere in 1929.

A Terrible Train Disaster Near Helsinki 13 October 1936. PC+D+DP: Heikki Aho, Björn Soldan. 3'. Betacam, alas. Viewed at Orion, Helsinki, 25 May 2005. The quickly produced newsreel on a train wreck in Pasila was ready to be screened the day after the fact.

The Sinking of Torpedo Boat S2 in 1925. PC: Suomi-Filmi. 3' at overspeed. Betacam, alas. Viewed at Orion, Helsinki, 25 May, 2005. Compiled at SEA from unassembled rushes in February 2005. The Finnish torpedo boat sank in heavy seas in the Baltic Sea near Pori, and 53 were killed.

Short films, newsreels and trailers from Finland, 1913-1973. Compiled by Lauri Tykkyläinen and Raimo Silius for Tampere Film Festival 2005. Total duration of the show 119' plus 7' extras. Viewed at Orion, Helsinki, 25 May 2005. A powerful compilation covering major tragic Finnish experiences. ****

Still a good documentary covering the story from Hitler's birth and the WWI till the Nuremberg trials. There are shots familiar from Triumph des Willens, Miasto nieujarzmione, and Nuit et brouillard, but the focus is on the Polish tragedy, and there is a lot of rare footage on the Warsaw Ghetto and the Polish experience.

Hitler's rise to power is handled with some complexity, as are the Anschluss and the Munich agreement. Also the German resistance is given space. Besides the Holocaust horrors the most shocking images are those of the ruined Warsaw and the ruined Berlin. Erwin Leiser (*1923 Berlin, †1996 Zürich) went to exile in Sweden in 1938, and after the success of this film he settled in Switzerland.

The famous golden turkey of all times is not that bad, there are tens of thousands much worse films. This might be Ed Wood's best film: lunatic, serious, tender, never boring. The Bela Lugosi spirit hovering over it all is a surrealistic aspect, and yes, this is a story of mad love. Bela's last words: "What of the other, less fortunate Glens, the world over" are memorable in his unique voice.

The music sounds like stock archive music from the silent era, and it has a strange impact.

The other main story is about Alan the war veteran who became Anne through a sex change and hundreds of hormone shots. The framing story is about a transvestite suicide, the investigation of which sends the inspector to the doctor. Love is the cure for Glen, who can transfer Glenda to Barbara. The most beautiful scene: Barbara gives Glen her angora sweater.

The story is supposed to take place in Sweden in the 1880s, and people wear their regional Sunday best at all times. Visually, this is a folklore pastiche in bright colours.

Professionally made impersonal entertainment, not one of Ucicky's best, and far from the best of the six film adaptations of Lagerlöf's tale. Of them, the first, by Sjöström, is still the best. I kept projecting the actors of the 1940 Finnish film adaptation on the flat faces of this one (Regina Linnanheimo, Tauno Palo, Ester Toivonen, Joel Rinne, Aku Korhonen, Siiri Angerkoski... one of the best casts in our country ever). I love also the Sjöström original, its Biblically profound sense of inner justice which finds its way over the hard roads of the law and social pressures.

The fragile girl from the Marsh Croft shatters the lives of the mighty ones and the whole community by her sense of dignity. In this Ucicky film there is a superfluous flashback exposition, the intensity of the courtroom sequence is missed, and everything is heavy-handedly emphasized. An object lesson in a bad adaptation.

Roman Karmen the daredevil cinematographer was a war correspondent who filmed the war, the capitulation of Dönitz and the (set up) raising of the Soviet flag on the Reichstag building in Berlin. He felt it was his obligation to cover the main Nuremberg trial for the duration, 10 months, from the beginning until the execution. Theoretically, an ideal pair to Triumph des Willens showing the rightful end of the villains. The authentic documentary footage from ruined Nuremberg and from Nazi horrors, as well as the newsreel footage from the trial with the accused sweating in their stand make this worth seeing. There is also a fascinating montage of the then state-of-the-art technology at the disposal of the court and the press. But the hectoring commentary spoils the film. Riefenstahl had no commentary and included 20 minute long sequences without speeches. Karmen's film is no work of art. (Kramer's Judgment at Nuremberg, US 1961, does not handle this main trial but a special trial two years later). This shortened 1970 version never mentions Stalin and has a modern prologue and epilogue heavy-handedly warning against BRD Neo-Nazism and praising the GDR. All the same, worth screening for the interested and attentive audience, who discussed the film quite reservedly after the show.

About Me

Antti Alanen (born 1955) is Film Programmer at National Audiovisual Institute (Finland), which runs the Cinema Orion in Helsinki. This diary is an irregular notebook and scrapbook of rough notes on films and related matters. Spoiler alert: I spoil everything because for me the plot and the conclusion are essential to discuss!

Jazz Record of the Week 29/2017

Jazz Record of the Week 29/2017

Freddie Redd Quartet: The Music from The Connection [1960] (Freddie Redd Six Classic Albums 2/6)

Jazz Record of the Week 29/2017

Introducing Freddie Redd (Freddie Redd Six Classic Albums 1/6)

Jazz Record of the Week 28/2017

Kenny Dorham: Jazz Contrasts

Jazz Record of the Week 20/2017

Joe Henderson: Page One

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Miroslav Vitouš: The Bass

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Billie Holiday: All or Nothing at All (5 Original Albums 5/5)

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Billie Holiday: Stay with Me (5 Original Albums 4/5)

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Billie Holiday: Songs for Distingué Lovers (5 Original Albums 3/5)

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Billie Holiday: Body and Soul (5 Original Albums 2/5)

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Billie Holiday: Lady Sings the Blues (5 Original Albums Box Set 1/5)

Jazz Record of the Week 14/2017

The Mahavishnu Orchestra with John McLaughlin: The Inner Mounting Flame

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Eero Koivistoinen: For Children

Jazz Record of the Week 8/2017

John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman

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Duke Ellington and His Orchestra: In a Mellotone

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Duke Ellington: Piano Reflections

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Miles Davis: Bitches Brew

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Charles Mingus Presents Charles Mingus

Jazz Record of the Week 3/2017

Dollar Brand Quartet: Africa – Tears and Laughter

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Albert Ayler: Goin' Home

Jazz Record of the Week 49/2016

Charles Lloyd: Forest Flower, live at Monterey

Jazz Record of the Week 48/2016

Sinikka Oksanen, Antero Stenberg, Radio Sessions 1959-1966

Jazz Record of the Week 47/2016

Django Reinhardt Vol. 6: 1940: Nuages

Jazz Record of the Week 43/2016

The Essence of Louis Armstrong (Phontastic, Sweden, 1987)

Jazz Record of the Week 42/2016

Tomasz Stańko: Balladyna

Jazz Record of the Week 39/2016

Cannonball Adderley: Somethin' Else

Jazz Record of the Week 38/2016

Tommy Flanagan Trio: Overseas

Jazz Record of the Week 37/2016

Miles Davis: Miles Smiles

Jazz Record of the Week 36/2016

Red Garland Trio: Groovy

Jazz Record of the Week 35/2016

John Coltrane: My Favorite Things

Jazz Record of the Week 34/2016

The Dave Brubeck Quartet: Time Out

Jazz Record of the Week 33/2016

Christian Schwindt Quintet: For Friends and Relatives

Jazz Record of the Week 32/2016

Carola & Heikki Sarmanto Trio

Jazz Record of the Week 25/2016

Cecil Taylor: Silent Tongues

Jazz Record of the Week 24/2016

Sonny Rollins: A Night at the Village Vanguard (1957, 2 cd reissue 2016)

Jazz Record of the Week 23/2016

Charlie Mingus: Blues & Roots

Jazz Record of the Week 22/2016

Mal Waldron: Moods

Jazz Record of the Week 21/2016

Django Bates: Belovèd Bird

Jazz Record of the Week 20/2016

Jacques Loussier Trio: The Original Play Bach Vols. 1 & 2

Jazz Record of the Week 19/2016

Duke Ellington and Johnny Hodges: Side by Side

Jazz Record of the Week 18/2016

Ray Charles: Genius+Soul=Jazz. Complete 1956-1960 Sessions with Quincy Jones (Genius+Soul=Jazz, The Genius of Ray Charles, The Genius Hits the Road, and from The Great Ray Charles and The Genius After Hours)